


When the son of the dragon and devil falls in love

by Subaruchan192



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Apocalypse, Character Death, Dracula Influence/References, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Challenge, Horror, Human/Vampire Relationship, Immortals, Legends, Loss, M/M, Married Couple, Mike Dodds Lives, Mystical Creatures, Soulmates, Storyteller Rafael Barba, Tragedy, Vampires, Witch Hunts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27288586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Subaruchan192/pseuds/Subaruchan192
Summary: Every year on Halloween Rafael Barba tells a story to Noah, Jesse and Billie; each more spectacular than the one before. This year, he choose a special one: The story of count Vlad Draculae Tepes- the impaler of 20.000 Ottomans, the son of dragon and devil. It's a story of horror and war; desperation, loss, fear, love, happiness, friendship and pain. It's a story of life.Little does his audience know, how much was hidden inside those words.*~*This is my participation for the Barisi Halloween challenge of the Barisi Archive =) I took inspiration from Netflix show "Castlevania", based on the popular videogames.
Relationships: Dracula Vlad Tepes | Mathias Cronqvist & Lisa, Olivia Bension/Amanda Rollins (hinted), Olivia Benson/Amanda Rollins, Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 23
Collections: Barisi Creatures Bingo





	When the son of the dragon and devil falls in love

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween! =)

_Many hundreds of years ago, in 1476 to be exact, a tragedy took place in the Wallachian region. A tragedy of such magnitude that people called it the apocalypse and begged God to save them, while a deluge of blood poured over the roofs of the city Târgoviște and monsters roamed the streets devouring all life._

_But God could not save them, because the people themselves had sealed their fate in their folly. For it was not Satan who raised an army of hell, as they believed at that time, but their own Count Vlad Tepes Drăculea, which meant as much as the Son of the Dragon, but it could also mean son of the devil as drac carried the meaning of dragon and devil and true to his name he would rain fire and death upon them._

_And it all began with an inquisitive woman, twenty years earlier, who loved humanity above all else and unknowingly signed their doom._

_Life in Wallachia at that time was simple and sparse, almost as if time had stopped there. The nature was completely untouched. Endless seas of forests covered the plains, so dense that the ground was shrouded in perpetual darkness, and the Carpathians kept the lurking Ottomans with their horses away to the north and east._

_For more than twenty years, they had been lurking on the borders, behind the mountains, bringing war and terror to the region and its aftermath still made the earth and air of the country tremble with terror as if the hooves of phantoms were thundering over the plains._

_It had been then, when everything had appeared to be lost, that their absent count had risen and chased the invaders away with brutality._

_It was a cold morning of the year 1454. Mist was hovering over the meadows and dew rose from the forest towards the sky in a silvery veil. It was unusually quiet that day. Not a distant snorting of the horses or the clattering of armour and swords could be heard, which had otherwise danced with the wind across the vastness every day. Even the animals had fallen silent and it seemed as if the whole country was holding its breath._

_That morning, a hunter rushed to the small village of Lupu, the closest to the castle, chalk-white, and chivvied like a deer on the hunt._

_‘What’s wrong,’ the villagers asked as they gathered around the man who had collapsed onto the ground. ‘What happened? What did you see?’_

_The hunter tried to answer, but he was too terrified to do so. Each time he opened his mouth, his words failed him, and he helplessly shook his head._

_‘The count…,’ was the only thing he could say in a strangled voice, hoarse from running miles in full speed. ‘The count.’_

_Confused and irritated, the villagers only starred at each other for a while, but then some men plucked up the courage to get some horses and galloped towards the castle of Count Vlad the Third._

_Strange stories revolved around the count, who had lived there longer than even the oldest people in the villages and whom nobody had ever seen. Also, no one worked there, and no food was ever delivered._

_His castle was mysterious and impressive; its towers committing the sacrilege to touch the sky and parts appeared to be hovering in the air by magic. Strange machines and wheels worked within the walls, making it hum and vibrate like a predator waiting for its prey, hidden behind the largest, darkest forest at the foot of the mountains._

_The only way to get to the castle was nothing more than a simple footpath that meandered through the dense, dark forest._

_The people of the region avoided approaching the castle, as no one, who had dared to do so, had ever returned._

_When the men of the village reached the otherwise muddy path, they petrified in terror at the sight, while their horses neighed in panic and reared._

_The old, mighty forest that once hid the castle from view had disappeared over night. Instead, there was nothing more than a vast, burnt steppe. The yellow, sulphur-smelling smoke which rose to the sky burned in their lungs like acid and teared up their eyes, but that was not what shook the men to the bones._

_Wooden crosses stood where trees had been the day before. On each of them an Ottoman had been skewered, the faces distorted into a terrible cry of death and_ _their eyes oozed out from their caves, while swarms of bats flew around like a dark cloud between them._

_On the horizon, the castle thronged, calm and serene, almost like a dragon who, after a successful hunt, rolled up contentedly on its gold._

_The men on their horses were petrified and all the color was gone from their faces._ _There had to_ be _thousands of dead, who the count had killed alone and unnoticed overnight in this bestial way._

“Barba!”

“Rafa!” The angry voices of Amanda Rollins and Olivia Benson cut like a knife into the mesh of words carefully woven by Rafael Barba.

“Mom!” Annoyed to be torn out of the thrilling story they had listened to, Noah, Jesse and Billie swirled around, glaring at their mothers, who sat at the dinner table with a glass of wine after a successful candy hunt.

“What?” Rafael chuckled amused.

“You can’t tell the kids that,” Amanda said with indignation.

“Those are historical facts. Should I’ve rather lie to them?” The former prosecutor raised an eyebrow sceptically, while his two friends looked speechless at him. “Besides, it would not be a horror story without, well, a little bit of horror.”

With a smug smirk, he took one bonbon out of the treasure box in front of the kids and threw it into his mouth. Meanwhile Sonny, who sat behind his husband, rolled with his eyes.

It was always the same old story. Every year. Every year Rafael told the children a story that was more scary and eerie than the year before and he was able to enthral the kids until they hung on every word he carefully chose and the scenery emerged in front of their eyes.

That was until the mother’s thought that he might exaggerated it with his ambition to create a spectacular of a horror story.

“Sonny,” seeking for help, Amanda turned towards him. “Say something about it.”

“Oh no. Keep me out of your feud. I tried to moderate once. Never doing that again.” He threw a long, sour gaze towards his former partner, but a chuckle rested within his voice.

“You know the rules, Rafa.” Olivia exhaled heavily, before she took a swallow of her wine in defeat. Amanda looked at her, a question glistening in her blue eyes as she looked at Olivia. The captain lifted her gaze and for a moment, they communicated silently, before the tension of annoyance faded out of the blond-haired woman and she nipped on her glass.

“I do.” A content, knowing smirk danced around Rafael’s lips as he looked at his friends, before he turned back to the kids, who jittered on the couch, excitedly anticipating for Rafael to continue. Calmly, he took another bonbon and threw it skilfully into his mouth, though it was quite difficult to eat given the artificial fangs inside his mouth. “If they have nightmares, you can bring them back here to stay the night.”

It truly was the same old story every year, Sonny thought with an exhausted sigh, but a tender smile played around his lips.

“Well, where was I?” Rafael asked, while he smoothed out the heavy, black fabric of his Dracula costume, before he leaned back against Sonny, who welcomed his husband with an embrace.

“What the count did to the Ottomans,” Noah said.

“Oh, yes, right.” For a moment, Rafael looked up to the ceiling, narrowing his eyes, while he moved the possible paths of words around in his head, likely telling the next parts silently to himself to choose the best way to continue.

Then, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat, before he looked back at his eager audience with a fire burning in his eyes.

_The men couldn’t believe what they saw. The forest was transformed into a wasteland of death. Rumours that the Count wasn’t human had been around for quite some time, but now all the gruesome stories seemed to be confirmed._

_The blood froze to ice inside their veins as they threw their horses around and raced back into the village, where they passed on what they had seen._

_Ever since that silent morning, the count was celebrated and feared at once. He was a hero and yet the predator who lurked on the horizon, an evil shadow, who could destroy them any minute._

_One year passed and the Ottomans never attacked again, but the Walachia couldn’t catch a breath. New riders on invisible horses appeared on the horizon and as they galloped over the land like the riders of the apocalypse and their black wings brought nothing but death, diseases and destruction over the land._

“The plague…,” Noah whispered, while holding his breath and Rafael nodded, a strangely sorrowful shimmer glistening in his green eyes.

 _Many people died_ , he continued with a heavy voice, _and those who survived lived in fear. The Ottomans had been graspable, but now, it was everywhere and nowhere. It could get anyone at any time._

_In those dark times in which it appeared as if a shadow was covering the sky, the humans prayed. To God, to the Count, it didn’t matter. The humans were so desperate that they weren’t picky, but it was in vein. More and more people fell victim to the black death, but every higher deity that could have saved them stayed silent._

“Oh no…,” Jesse gasped and clasped her hands over of her mouth, her eyes, which were as blue as her mothers, blown wide.

“Don’t worry, dear.” Rafael smiled softly and reached out, while he tenderly ruffled through her hair, messing up with her beach waves she wore as Captain Marvel. “There is more to the story than meets the eye at the first glance. There are always different layers that are closely interwoven. Nothing is just terrible or beautiful. That's just the way life is. The story seems scary and hopeless right now, but it just means that you are in the darkness and the light is waiting for you. I ensure you, there is even a love story within it and it isn’t far. Can you hold on a little while longer, Jesse?”

The young girl blinked surprised, but then a spark ran through her eyes.

“Hmmmhmmm…” She nodded. “I can.”

“I thought so.” He smiled proudly, while he ruffled through her fine, blond hair. “Can I go on?”

“Go on, uncle Rafi!” Billie made a happy sound and clapped her hands. The adults laughed softly at her eager request.

“You heard her, love,” Sonny whispered into his ear and kissed his hair.

“Very well.” Rafael nodded with a smile and cleared his throat again.

_But then, when all seemed lost, a courageous woman named Lisa from the village of Lupu decided to take actions._

_Armed with nothing more than a cape and a knife, she made her way along the Avenue of the Crucified. The skeletons still hung on the crosses, the empty gazes directed towards the sky, as a warning to all those who dared to bother the count. Because, when the situation in Wallachia became more and more desperate, some men had tried to reach the castle to ask him for help. But none of them ever returned._

_Swarms of bats still roamed between the broken bones, attacking everyone who tried to get closer towards the castle, but Lisa was prepared. She was determined to change the current situation and no one was going to stop her. A fire was burning in her eyes as she took step after step, while her long, hair shone like liquid gold in the glistening, burning sun._

_The road to the castle was long and arduous and by the time she finally reached the intimidating castle, the sun was already sinking behind the mountain. Lisa turned around to have a look at her dying country. She was aware that it might be last time she was able to as death was a possible outcome of her quest._

_The entrance portal of huge, at least tenth her size and runes were engraved into the wood. She exhaled with awe at the sight of such craftsmanship that even the church in Târgoviște didn’t owned. She knocked, her heart beating fast and adrenaline rushed through her veins when she heard a clicking and a tremble ran through the ground, before the doors opened on their own as if through magic._

_When she entered, she found herself in a large entrance hall. Candlesticks and a strange blue light that seemed to float below the ceiling bathed the endless room, which was supported by broad pillars, in a twilight light._

_Even though Lisa was impressed by the sight, she stayed on guard as she walked towards the double-winged spiral staircase on the other side of the hall, her hands holding firmly onto the knife._

_Then the entrance door behind her slammed shut with a muffled bang as if by magic. Lisa startled and whirled around, but then, she felt an ominous presence behind her and turned back._

_A tall man with pale skin, hair dark as the night and dressed in a black cloak had suddenly appeared out of nothing on top of the stairs and looked down to her with an arrogant gaze. A powerful, threatening aura swirled around him and then crashed through the entrance hall like a wave._

_Lisa drew her knife, ready to attack, her blue eyes starring determinedly and unwaveringly at the man, who must be count Tepes._

_For a moment, tension shivered in the air, but then, maybe to the surprise of the count, Lisa put her knife back into its sheath and said with a calm, steady voice:_

_‘My name is Lisa from the village of Lupu and I desperately want to become a doctor.’_

_Instead of answering the Count moved to the left and it appeared as if he was hovering over the ground, rather sliding than walking and as soon as he reached the shadows of the pillars on the gallery, he melted with the darkness and disappeared._

_‘You hammer at my gate because you want to smear chicken blood on poor farmers?’, the count asked and his deep, threatening voice seemed to come from everywhere, while he scurried through the shadows like a phantom, leaving Lisa absolutely disorientated as she tried to figure out his position. To her surprise though, the count didn’t sound angry or enraged. It was rather a little bemused, as if the corners of his mouth were twitching, while carrying the arrogance of a superior being._

_‘Don’t mistake me for a witch,’ Lisa replied upset and could hardly suppress a disapproving snort. ‘Everybody else does anyway out there.’_

_She lifted her gaze and looked at where she believed to have heard the swish of the cloak._

_‘I believe in science, but I need to learn more. I have exhausted all other possibilities.’ Her voice burned from passion, courage, but also desperation and she withdrew into cover as a precaution, while the shadow of the count surrounded her like a predator. ‘And they say the man who lives here has secret knowledge.’_

_‘I am Count Vlad Dracula Tepes.’ Lisa startled as the man suddenly leaned over her shoulder and she felt his cold breath against her cheek. Her blue eyes widened in fear, her breath hitched when she felt, rather than saw, how he moved his arm around her, his hands equipped with claws that could easily slice her throat open. ‘I don’t receive visitors very often. What do you offer in return for my knowledge, Lisa from Lupu?’_

_A shiver ran through Lisa’s body as she felt how his hand almost touched her shoulder, but then she remembered why she had come here and the terror in her eyes was replaced by a fire of determination and she took a step forward and turned to the count._

_‘Perhaps I could teach you some manners.’ The count straightened up again with interest, while Lisa looked at him rebukingly. ‘I have crossed the threshold of your house and you have neither taken my coat nor offered me a drink.’_

_‘What if I drink something from you,’ Vlad Tepes asked and bent over. It was only at that moment that Lisa realised that he was taller than even the tallest men in her village, and his shoulder-length, raven-black hair covered his face, in whose shadow his eyes glowed like red embers._

_‘Or did you arm yourself with silver, crosses and garlic for superstitious fear?’_

_He looked at her closely while Lisa widened her eyes in surprise, but she quickly regained her composure._

_‘Perhaps I ate some garlic earlier,’ she said in a sugary, fluty tone dripping with mockery. ‘Was that rude? I beg your pardon, but I simply had nothing else in the house.’_

_Then she got more serious again and said frustrated:_

_‘I'm really not interested in superstition. I don't want to become a strange old woman who gives people hives and hermits.’_

_The count laughed amused at her passionate appeal, while he circled around her in a disparaging manner. Lisa showed no fear whatsoever, did not let him dissuade her and continued:_

_‘I want to heal people. I want to learn. Will you help me?’_

_The count stopped next to her and she looked at him closely. He watched her with interest like a cat looking at a mouse and wondering whether they should play with it or eat it, but Lisa didn't feel like she was in danger. He wasn’t cruel and cold-blooded as the people of Wallachia described. Nor did he seem to take pleasure in killing or torturing._

_No, he only looked at her curiously and thoughtfully, his black eyebrows raised in question, while he wondered what kind of woman had entered his home._

_‘You are definitely different from most people I have met lately,’ he finally concluded, staring into the shadows._

_‘Maybe I can teach you to like people again,’ Lisa offered. ‘Or at least tolerate them. Or not to impale them anymore.’_

_‘I haven’t done that for a long time.’ A small, honest chuckle left the count’s lips as he turned away from her and told her with a gesture of his hand to follow him. ‘Where exactly is the village of Lupu?’_

_‘It seems like you can’t travel,’ Lisa said as she hurried to catch up with him. The Count tilted his head a little and seemed to suppress an annoyed rolling of his eyes._

_‘I can travel,’ he said with forced calm and pointed towards the room. ‘The whole castle is a time travel machine.’_

_‘But you don’t, do you? Give it a try. The world is changing.’ Vlad Tepes didn't seem convinced, so Lisa added encouragingly: ‘Travel like humans. You might like it.’_

_The count raised an eyebrow sceptically._

_‘I've only known you for two minutes and yet you ask me to walk the earth like an ordinary farmer,’ he asked as if he wanted to make sure he had heard right and yet sounded rather amused about Lisa's audacity. ‘While I pass on to you the knowledge of the immortals? The true science?!’_

_With a solemn, inviting gesture, Vlad pointed to a room that had not been there before and the sight left Lisa speechless. It was almost as big as her village and full of strange apparatus she had never seen before. In the middle hung a model, full of spheres moving around each other in orbits. Lisa assumed that this was a system of the universe. At the back of the room was a telescope the size of a full-grown tree, and the gallery was filled with countless books. On a table stood flasks in which liquids bubbled contentedly and lightning bolts danced in a ball._

_Utterly amazed, Lisa stepped in, no longer paying attention to the danger still emanating from the count, her eyes shining brightly and full of wonder._

_‘Well they won't be stupid farmers anymore if you teach them.’ Lisa was excited, full of hope for her country, when she approached the count. ‘They no longer have to live such short, despondent lives if they have medicine. They no longer have to be superstitious if they know how the world works.’_

_‘Why should I do that,’ Vlad Tepes asked mockingly, but the zeal did not disappear from Lisa's voice:_

_‘To make the world a better place. Start with me and I will start with you.’_

_A strange, old softness lay in the count's eyes as he looked at her, an expression of almost affection. Like a father looking proudly at his daughter, yet something more and for the first time in probably a long time, he smiled._

_‘I think you could please me,’ he said as he bowed before her and offered her his knowledge. Lisa accepted his invitation immediately and began to walk around the room, the count following her._

“Aaaaaaw,” Billie squealed in delight and clapped her hands as she bounced on the lounge. “They’re going to fall in love.”

“Yes,” Rafael agreed, his eyes shining softly. “It showed that difference don’t matter as long as there are common interests. Vlad admired Lisa’s courage, determination, her curiosity and perception. Whatever he taught her, Lisa listened eagerly, absorbing every word of his and it warmed his heart, while Lisa admired him for his knowledge, politeness and charm, coming to realize that nothing of what was whispered about him was true. Yes, he could have killed her, but he was actually a very polite, calm man and for the first time, she met a man, who surpassed her on a mental level. For the first time, she felt stimulated and challenged. It didn’t take long until the original mutual interest developed into affection and then, they fell in love and married.”

“Yahoo,” the kids cheered happily and Rafael chuckled quietly, before exchanging a loving glance with his husband. Sonny smiled, too, but surprisingly, it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“But it’s not going to last, isn’t it?” he asked, while he cupped Rafael’s cheek, whose eyes widened for a moment, but then he exhaled softly and shook his head.

“No, sadly it won’t.”

“What,” Noah, Jesse and Billie exclaimed, and even their mothers gasped. “No!”

“That’s the way it is,” Rafael explained with an apologetic tone, his voice heavy. “Nothing lasts forever.”

The children looked at him with sorrow, Jesse hugging Billie tighter who sniffed and Rafael’s heart clenched at the sight, but he didn’t want to sugar coat anything. He wanted to tell a realistic story so that they could draw a lesson from it. It should teach them something about life.

“But there is still going to be a happy end,” he announced, trying to sooth the disappointed children, whose heads hung low, disappointed that the sweet spark between Vlad and Lisa was going to lead to disaster.

“Promised?” Billie blinked, a shimmer of hope glistening in her eyes as she looked back up at him.

“Promised.” Rafael nodded and smiled. He didn’t have the heart to disappoint them and that was the moment he decided to change the end of the story, to derivate from the truth that rested heavily inside his heart. Not when those three adorable kids looked at him with brightly shining eyes of excitement.

_Twenty years passed in which Vlad and Lisa lived happily together and their love thrived. Through the knowledge that Vlad offered and taught her, she became an excellent doctor and helped many people, even those for whom there was no hope. It didn’t take long until the news of her healing skills spread throughout the Wallachia. People from afar travelled to seek for her help and advice and soon her name was on everyone's lips. Lisa the healer. Even in Târgoviște people spoke of her and that was her doom._

_Meanwhile Count Tepes was on a journed, because Lisa had asked it of him._

_Travel like humans, she had said, see the world as they see do, because although he had learned to love Lisa, he still despised humanity. They were nothing more than lowly creatures that he tolerated in his realm because they were not worth the trouble and attention._

_If you love me as a human, you should see the world like they do, Lisa had told him with her typical smirk on her lips, her eyes glistening like sapphires. That smile he had never been able to resist._

_And so, he did as she had asked even though it felt so utterly pointless and pathetic to him. Traveling like a human was slow, uncomfortable and exhausting. He saw absolutely no appeal in it, but he did it for her, because his love for her was stronger than his despise of humans and there must be something about them, he was not able to see if Lisa loved them so much that she had even went into the lion’s den in order to save those poor, unfortunate creatures._

_But Vlad Tepes found no answer on his journey and when he returned home, exhausted, tired and weary, longing or nothing more than to be back in Lisa’s arms, he found her house in Lupu destroyed and burned to the ground. Some tiny offspring of fire still licked on the wood, trying to get some carrion out of the carcass._

_Stunned, he stared at what was left of her life, of Lisa. Everything she had learned in 20 years, everything she had worked for, was destroyed, and that was only because she was a woman and had knowledge that, from the perspective of the powerful, she should not possess._

_It had to have a demonic, impure origin. At least that's what the powerful believed. Therefore, only was one possible explanation in their eyes. That she was a witch._

Sheer horror spread through the living room, enveloping it in an icy cold that even the fire in the fireplace could not chase away. The children only starred at Rafael, their eyes blown wide in shock, nothing more than endless oceans of blue and brown, even their mothers holding their breaths, while Sonny tugged him closer into his warmth, protecting him from the cold he had created.

Sonny knew him. Knew that he fully embraced the personas of his protagonists. It was what made him an excellent storyteller, but it also made him feel everything that they did and Sonny knew that he hated to make his characters suffer. He didn’t want to do this to Vlad and Lisa, but there was a moral waiting like the light at the end for the tunnel. For that, though, they had to trespass the darkness and pain. Rafael wanted to give them a piece of advice for life and for that he needed to put a part of his soul into his words. Otherwise, they wouldn’t reach them.

He took a deep breath, taking in the comfort that Sonny’s embraced provided, let its warmth slip into him, chasing away the darkness of Vlad’s sadness and anger, which spread from his depth all through him.

_They had come in the dark of the night, led by a cardinal of Târgoviște and took Lisa by surprise. She had believed that as long as she helped people, she would be tolerated, but that was not how the world worked. Neither back then, nor today. Your intention or how much good you do doesn’t always protect you. Often, it only brings you in danger. Lisa had been oblivious to it and now, with Vlad gone, he wasn’t able to protect her._

_The men of the church examined her house, destroyed everything that got in their way and finally found a secret room full of tools and equipment that they had never seen as scholars. This was the proof. Devilish forces must be at work here._

_They took her to the cathedral to put her on trial, although it was nothing more than pretence. No one could pass the so-called witch trials._

“Bu…but Vlad had returned…,” Jesse stammered, a spark of hope dancing in her voice.

“He did.” Rafael nodded. “But too late, sadly. When he came back from his journey, her fate was already set.”

“Oh no…”

 _I’m so sorry_ , rested on Rafael’s lips, but he couldn’t say it. He was the master of his story. He could have prevented it, but he had only decided to adjust the ending, not the gruesome path that lead to it. Otherwise, his intention would be in vain.

“But…but…” Billie’s lips trembled. “You promised there is going to be a happy end.”

“Because there is,” he assured. “It just not the one you expect and it doesn’t come here.”

He felt Olivia’s gaze on him, a thoughtful, assessing one, one that carried the question, if this was truly necessary. Rafael turned his head and caught her brown eyes. His own were dark from the sadness, almost as if it was his own and Olivia understood, though Rafael wasn’t sure how much exactly; how many hidden layers of the story she was able to unravel.

_While Vlad starred at the remnants of Lisa’s life, the fire, which licked on the house’s skeleton, resonated deep inside his soul, an all-consuming anger burning deep inside of him. He had tried to see, he had tried to understand, just as she had wished, but all he was able to see was the ugliness and loathsomeness of humanity. They destroyed, what they couldn’t understand, what could endanger the power of those in charge, no matter how much good it brought to the world._

_The longer he watched the flames eating up everything, the stronger the ones inside of him burned and for the first time in forever, his fangs retracted from their hideout within his canines and his eyes became as red as blood._

_“Are you Lisa Tepes’ husband,” a creaky voice asked from behind him._

_“Where is my wife?” Vlad turned around. On the gateway, with flowers in hand, stood an old woman with a wrinkled face and white hair._

_“I’m so sorry.” The compassion and kindness of age spoke from her eyes he had so often heard of, though they were hazed with sadness. “They took her Târgoviște.”_

_“Is she being held prisoner in the cathedral?”_

_“No.” The old woman shook her head in resignation and laid the flowers down in front of the fence. “She must already be burned. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to see it.”_

_Sorrow spoke from her voice._

_“I liked her…your wife. She was always good to me.”_

_Vlad made an indefinable sound, something resembling to a dark, rolling growl, while his bloodred eyes stayed fixated on the fire._

_“Leave Wallachia tonight,” Vlad warned the old lady with a tone of doom._

_“What…what are you going to do?” she asked concerned, but Vlad didn’t answer. Instead, he looked up to the pitch-black night sky._

_His hunger for blood had almost been forgotten over the years, but now, he longed for nothing more. Those, who had taken the love of his life away from him, should pay. They should experience what Vlad the Impaler was capable of. Lisa might have tried to save them, but without her, Vlad felt no connection to humanity anymore. He couldn’t care any less. They had lost their right of existence. The time of toleration was over._

_Resembling to the fire of rage burning inside of him he turned into a fire column that rose to the sky._

_Meanwhile, all the people of Wallachia, whether from near or far, had gathered in Târgoviște on the cathedral square. The sun was just about to set when she watched as a witch was burned._

_Lisa was tied to a pyre and the flames were already licking at her body hungrily. She was maltreated and battered, her face bruised and her long blonde hair brutally cut off just below her skull. Or torn out. It was no longer possible to see it that clearly._

_But despite all that the representatives of humanity and God on earth had done to her, she still carried compassion in her heart. In her final moments, she rose her head towards the sky, who was mirroring the colour of the flames, which were about to devour her, and begged to Vlad to spare the humans. They wouldn't know any better._

_But Vlad didn’t hear her and even if he had, her plea would have fallen on deaf ears._

_When he arrived, he could only watch the skeleton of his beloved crumble to ashes and the flames reared up joyfully to praise the sky, accompanied by the cheers of the masses._

It was silent in the living room. Even the clock seemed to not be moving anymore, while tears brimmed in the eyes of Rafael, Sonny and the kids and it almost seemed as if they were holding a moment of silence for Lisa.

Then, Rafael took a shaky, deep breath and cleared his throat, because he needed a calm, powerful voice for the next and final act.

_Meanwhile, the mayor and cardinal turned to leave, engrossed in a conversation about the bishop's condition, which could not be more insignificant, when suddenly the fire changed. Flames raged, licking in the direction of the people before retreating and turning into a pattern of fire. The flaming face, which was now looking at the citizens, was nothing but a horrible grimace, a bare skull that scared the people to death, because they believed that the devil had risen from the depths of hell._

_‘What have you done?’ the devil asked in desperation, his voice echoing from the church. The cardinal and the mayor turned around, one of them calmly, the other his eyes wide ripped out with horror. The flaming skull smoothed and the face of Vlad Tepes appeared in the fire._

_‘What did you do to my wife?’ The once calm, deep melody of his voice had faded away. Instead, it sounded strangely distorted, as if several people were speaking the same words simultaneously._

_The people trembled, crowded to seek shelter, while the cardinal calmly lifted his golden cross and began to murmur an exorcism, but it had no effect. Instead, the flame crown around Vlad's face only grew and the heat that spread across the square became more unbearable. ‘I am Count Vlad Dracula Tepes and you will tell me why you did this to my wife.’_

_The fire continued to grow, fuelled by Vlad's unbridled anger, and now even reached the crenelation of the cathedral._

_‘Oh no, oh God,’ the mayor stammered in fear of death. ‘Dracula... I thought it was just a myth. A fairy tale that the heretics thought up.’_

_It is astonishing how quickly one became a myth, considering that the ottoman's care was only 20 years ago._

_At that moment, people knew they were lost, because their former saviour would now turn into a nightmare._

_‘She…she was a witch,’ the cardinal replied, his voice now shakier as God’s word of banishment had failed._

_‘Lisa Tepes was a woman of science,’ Vlad replied energetically, his shining eyes looking at him hard. ‘And the only thing that justified the stench of humanity on this planet.’_

_‘You... you...’ The cardinal was visibly shaken, but then he found an explanation that matched his faith and he was able to hold on to. ‘You don't really exist. You are just an invention to justify the practice of black magic.’_

_‘Just an invention?’ Vlad repeated with anger as the flames dispersed and reached into the sky, while his face turned into a devilish frat with his bare teeth and glowing eye sockets. People shivered and screamed as they ducked to protect themselves from the flames. ‘You kill my wife and dare to say that I don’t exist?’_

_Discomfort now ran through people. Some of them even guilt-consciously lowered their gaze. ‘I'll give you a year, Walachians. I give you a year to find your peace and to remove all traces that you have left in the country. One year, and then I will wipe out all human life in Wallachia.’_

_The people were afraid, mothers squeezing their children more firmly to their chests, while Vlad's threat blazed like a wave over their heads and was reflected by the stones of the church._

_‘You took away from me what I love. Therefore, I will take from you all that you have and everything that you have ever been. One year.’ Then the flames dispersed and his face collapsed, concentrating into a column of fire._

_The windows of the church smashed into thousands of shards as a shockwave swept across the square, falling like crystal snow down to the people. They screamed in horror, protecting their faces with their hands as the splinters cut their skins, just as Lisa's skin had been hurt. Shocked, the cardinal looked up as fireballs smashed down on them like meteorites. The faithful fled, while the cardinal resignedly lowered his head. These were the harbinger of the apocalypse. Vlad's warning to humanity - in memory of Lisa._

“Is she really dead?” Noah asked as Rafael stayed silent for a moment and he nodded, before he licked his lips to wet them.

“Even though it’s a story, it’s based on true happenings and humans are not reborn,” Sonny explained to Rafael’s surprise, providing him a moment to collect himself and come out of the rage he had allowed to consume him.

“Do you know the story, Uncle Sonny?” Jesse looked at him surprise.

“Yes, I do.” Sonny smiled, but it was strangely sad. “Rafael is just better in telling it.”

With that, he kissed his husband’s temple, who took a deep breath and let the love be transported into him. It felt warm and soft, insomuch contrary to the ice cold and yet burning rage from before.

Quickly, Rafael reached over to the coffee table to get his glass of water and took a deep swallow as his throat began to be hoarse. He was used to talk a lot. Talking was the most essential part of his job, but he had spoken extra deep in order to embody the tenor of Vlad and he would still need that voice for a bit longer.

“You don’t have to go on, Uncle Rafi,” Noah said, who had noticed the little tear, which was glistening in the corner of Rafael's green eyes.

“It’s fine, Noah.” Rafael smiled softly and huffed, touched by the boy’s empathy. “I just dove a bit too far into it in order to give you a thrilling story, but I’m okay and I still promised you a happy end, didn’t I?”

“Hmmhmmm!” The girls nodded eagerly as they finally wanted to reach it.

“We’re almost there, but we still have to keep that sentiment up for a bit longer.” Once again, he cleared his throat, took a deep breath and continued:

_When Vlad returned to his castle, all the anger was smouldered and instead the infinite emptiness of mourning remained. Tears burned in his eyes as he watched his meteorite rain in dismay and nostrils trembled as he struggled for air he didn't need. He just couldn't believe it. Lisa was dead, gone forever, and suddenly the huge castle appeared overwhelmingly empty, almost as if the silence was trying to suffocate him._

_He had been aware that there was a time waiting for him when Lisa would no longer be by his side. This was the curse and blessing of an immortal life. Vlad had already travelled the earth when humanity’s ancestors were just learning to walk on two legs and he would still be here when they had long disappeared. For him, this had been completely natural, but now he was terrified of the infinity that was looming in front of him. A life of perpetual pain that shattered his heart._

_Slowly he turned around and went to the very room where it all had started. He wanted to preserve something of her, to feel something of her, even if it was just an echo of memories. Gently the golden light of his lamps fell through the door slit, luring him with promises that could not be kept. Vlad knew this, knew it was going to hurt, but his longing was stronger._

_When he opened the door, he hoped that he would walk through a time portal and Lisa would wait for him. She would impatiently lift her head and ask him where he had been for so long. Why he had let her wait when she needed his advice, but then her face would become softer and she would whisper lovingly that she had missed him._

_That was what Vlad had been missing for so long in his infinite life. Someone who was missing him. He was the supreme of the vampires, the leader of a myriad of generals, but they all feared him and none of them was worthy of his society, and for the people he had been nothing more than an ominous shadow on the horizon. A fairy tale that didn't exist at all._

_Vlad was completely detached from space and time._

_When no one was waiting for him in the room, Vlad could no longer bear the pain, because again and again memories of his beloved wife flashed in front of his inner eye and the particles of this echo pierced his heart like needles._

_Lisa, who listened to his explanations. Lisa, whose eyes flashed as he explained how a device works. Lisa, who beamed with joy, turned her head to him as she made a particularly complicated medicament. Lisa, who threw herself around his neck and kissed him, completely unexpectedly, as she saved her first incurable patient._

_Vlad began to destroy everything in this room because it carried too much of her essence. More and more tears ran out of his eyes as he broke everything of their shared life into as many pieces as his heart was broken._

_‘It will take me a year to summon an army out of the bowels of hell,’ he said as he embraced his rage. In the end, the only thing left to him was his revenge. To punish every sinner, who had murdered his wife._

_‘No,’ said a voice, warmer than his, as the door opened behind Vlad. Bright light penetrated from the entrance hall to the now dark room. In the door frame stood Alucard, their son, dressed in white coat and trousers. In the gleaming light of the entrance hall, he looked almost like an angel and not like a vampire, a creature of the night. Vlad could hardly bear his sight. He had her hair._

_‘What do you mean by no?’ Vlad hissed menacingly. ‘For me, the woman was the only reason to tolerate humanity on Earth in the first place.’_

_He growled and bared his fangs as he looked at his son, and the pain began to burn stronger and stronger in him._

_‘Then find the person who committed the crime,’ Alucard said calmly. ‘But if you release an army of darkness on Wallachia, you cannot undo it, and many thousands of people, who are just as innocent as she, will suffer and die.’_

_‘There are no innocents,’ Vlad shouted, clutching his hand into a fist, and his claws dug deep into his flesh until blood flowed down his wrist as red tears. ‘At least not anymore. Anyone who was there could have stand up and said no, we will no longer behave like animals, but no one did. Her blood is on all of their hands. They are all sinners.’_

_‘I'm not going to let that happen,’ Alucard replied undeterred. ‘I mourn with you, but I will not allow you to commit genocide.’_

_At that moment, Vlad could no longer control himself. Blind from his loss, he rushed forward and attacked his son. A sin, at least on this all religions agreed. Alucard was ready and drew his sword, but he was not prepared for his father's hubris, that very madness of war that could blinded even the strongest of men. The fight was fierce and tough, but in the end Alucard was seriously injured and had to withdraw in the hope that he would be healed in a year's time. Just in time to protect humanity- as his mother had wished._

_A year passed, and on the very day that the devil's wife had been burned, heavenly chants floated over the cathedral square. Târgoviște was solemnly decorated. People from near and far went on a pilgrimage to celebrate the victory of God and the bishop held a long, meaningful speech._

_‘For twenty years now, I have been serving you and to God as Archbishop of the Cathedral of Târgoviște,’ he began. ‘But never before have I felt so much how God's love shines down on this wonderful city. A little more than a year ago, many of us had to suffer a vision during the God-ordained punishment of a witch from our midst. The devil himself appeared to us and threatened us with damnation in a year's time, but we are still standing here. The devil had lied. Why should we be surprised?’_

_He took a deep breath._

_‘Do we not know that the devil is a lie? Do we not know that his work is nothing but an illusion? Of course, we know this. Illusions and untruths are not frightening us.’ Solemnly, he rose his hands to his chest and didn’t even notice, how the sky was turning bloodred. ‘We are the righteous of Târgoviște and feel as secure here as in God's bosom.”_

_A red drop fell onto his opened palms and the archbishop froze. Clouds covered the sun as blood began to rain down on the believers. Horror was spreading, while they starred stunned on either their hands or the sky._

“We arrived at where you began the story…,” Noah whispered and Rafael nodded, but he didn’t want to be torn out of the moment for too long as he would otherwise loose the picture in front of his eyes.

_Suddenly, monster fall down to earth and torrents of blood poured down over the roofs of the cathedral._

_Bricks shattered, the ground shook, and the stones on which the archbishop laid in state on his carriage of gold, broke under the weight of the new deluge._

_Just like year ago, the beautiful church windows shattered again and the archbishop was injured by a shard. He sank to the ground with a scream full of pain and could only watch with horror as fire devoured his cathedral until nothing was left of God's house._

_Then, the flames turned in a tornado that bolted up to the clouds, and eventually merged into Vlad's face, looking down at them from the sky._

_‘One year,’ he said. ‘I have given you a year to reconcile you with your God. And what are you doing? You are celebrating the day you killed my wife? One year I have given you while I have assembled my army and now, I am bringing you death. You had your chance.’_

_The face disappeared, turned into clouds again, while people looked to the sky in disbelief. But then they screamed in horror as another shockwave swept across the city, and Vlad's castle suddenly rose from the remnants of the cathedral. Fire spread rapidly from it in all directions and as if that weren't enough, all of a sudden, the windows of the city opened and monsters, worse than any nightmare, came out, hungry, looking for food. Their growls echoed through the street as they slammed down on the people and feasted on everyone who came across them. It was a carnage and soon the whole city was on fire._

_People fled in panic, but there was no escape. No matter where they hid, the monsters found them, and even those who weren't immediately discovered were damned. Because the monsters had time. This was now their home._

„That…that’s not the happy end, isn’t it? Please, it can’t be.”

“How could this be a happy end?” Sonny asked surprise as he looked at Jesse and frowned.

“Why do you think that?” Rafael added.

“Well, Vlad got his revenge,” she tried to explain. “He punished those who wronged Lisa and you said it wasn't the happy ending we expected.”

“Revenge is never a solution and never just,” Rafael said calmly. “It can never be a happy end.”

When Jesse lowered her eyes ashamed, he gently lifted her head and smiled:

“So, no, the story doesn’t end here, Jesse.”

“Will a hero rise and save humanity?” Noah asked and Rafael huffed, a smirk dancing around his lips.

“Oh no, Noah. That would be too simple.”

“But what about Alucard?” Billie now also got involved.

“We will get there,” Rafael assured. “He will not remain inactive.”

_Bats gathered like a dark cloud over the highest tower of the castle, forming Vlad's silhouette, and the monsters raised their heads as he spoke to his subjects:_

_‘Kill everything you see. Kill them all, and as soon as you have turned Târgoviște into the cemetery of my love, go out into the land. Fly off! Fly to all the cities of Wallachia: Arges, Severin, Gresit, Chilia, Enisara. Fly off and kill. Kill for my love. Kill for the only true love I ever knew. Kill for the endless life of hatred that lies ahead of me."_

_Thus, the silhouette was smashed into millions of bats and ravens flying in all directions and their shouting rushed out as a warning._

_Ever since that day, Walachia was haunted by a massacre, a war far worse than the one with the Ottomans could have ever been._

“And that is how Lisa doomed humanity without intending to,” Noah concluded and Rafael smiled proudly.

“Indeed. It shows that even the best of intention, can turn out bad. You can never foresee what consequences your action might have. But it also shows that no one is a true hero or a true villain. It’s much more complicated than that.”

The children nodded, because they understood.

“Okay, time to finally prepare the happy end. Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

“Very well.” Rafael smiled and rubbed over Sonny’s hands while he continued:

_In a tavern near the city of Gresit was a man named Trevor Belmont. The Belmont family was well-known in the Walachia as they were vampire hunters, but Trevor was the last one of them and had always been the black sheep in their eyes. Trevor was a strange man, some would even call him odd or quirky. He was tall, toned, with brown hair and a scar covering his blue eyes. He loved alcohol and despised their profession, always a sarcastic comment on his lips._

“So, he’s like you?” Sonny snorted about Billie’s clueless interruption and Rafael glared at his husband for a moment.

“What?” Sonny shrugged. “She isn’t wrong about it.”

“Anyhow…” Rafael took a deep breath and resembled as if nothing happened:

_Trevor rather worked as mercenary, but with the current situation, he wasn’t able to escape his destiny anymore._

_As he came into the city, he saw the full extent of the horror, who had remained within the city’s walls up to that point, but he didn’t care._

_His point of no return came when he saw how a group of monks trying to murder another man. Trevor drew his whip and attacked._

_“I might be out of practice,” he said, while he fought them. “But at least I’m sober.”_

_Even though Trevor despised his family’s profession, he was a skilled man and defeated the criminals with ease._

_As it turned out the saved man was the eldest of the Cordrii speakers, a highly educated, nomadic group that memorize oral histories and events in Wallachia and the eldest invited him into their hideout, where they sought shelter from the monsters. Trevor knew a bit about them and asked, why they had stayed here for a while._

_One of the speakers how he’d know about that and replied:_

_“You’re here long enough to be accused to be the reason of Dracula’s wrath.”_

_The eldest explained to Trevor that it was the church itself, who had summoned Dracula’s rage and when Trevor was surprised about that, he explained that there had been speaks in Târgoviște a year ago, when it all began and that they had burned Dracula’s wife on the pyre._

_“Shit,” Trevor cursed and the speaker said with a smile that this was one way to put it. “But you haven’t answered the question.”_

_The other members of the speakers looked uneasily at the eldest, who sat down next to Trevor. He explained that life was doomed in Gresit. There were no doctors, no help, no structure, no order and that speakers never turned their back on those in need._

_That was why one of them had gone into the catacombs of Gresit as there was a legend in the chronic of the speakers that a sleeping soldier was located there. A hero, who sleeps until he was needed. Until darkness was covering the country._

_“Ah, yes, I’ve heard of it,” Trevor said, while he looked thoughtfully up. “It’s a local legend. Sounds like a fairy tale for children, doesn’t it?”_

_“Oh really? And what exactly do you know about us?” The eldest asked._

_“I'm a Belmont...,” he said while he revealed the emblem of his clan on his chest, which was burned into the skin. ”So, I know you're a nomadic people who gather knowledge, memorize it, carry complete spoken histories with you. I also know you gather hidden knowledge and have practitioners of magic knowledge in your tribes.”_

_“A Belmont? I thought your family vanished.”_

_“Vanished? That’s a polite way of saying: hated, banished and hunted.”_

_“So, what are you going to do now?”_

_“I look for something to eat, drink, get drunk, eat and then move on.” Trevor waved his hand and turned to leave. “Maybe, I’ll climb up a tree and watch the spectacle. Watch how all the humans await their terrible death.”_

_“Do you not have any compassion?” he eldest asked._

_“The church had summoned it. The Belmonts would have been the only one who could have stopped Dracula. They wanted to fight the darkness in their way. Good look with that.”_

_“But the common people had no choice,” the old man insisted._

_“For evil person to gain power, the common people have to stay actionless and silent,” Trevor replied grim. “There is always a choice.”_

_The eldest lowered his head, resigned, and nodded and Trevor wondered why they stayed. Even though one of them was missing, it was madness to stay and wait. That was when one of them revealed that the missing speaker was the eldest’s grandchild._

_To their surprise, Trevor said that he would get their dead body, if the speakers would just then leave the city._

_“Why would you do that?” a speaker asked._

_“Because the good people will turn against you soon. There will be a pogrom.” Trevor swirled back around. “They spoke about it on the market place this morning.”_

_“That doesn’t answer my question,” the speaker insisted._

_“Because I know what it’s like to be hunted just because you were born.” And with that, Trevor left._

_It was a long journey down the catacombs of the mausoleum, but eventless, until Trevor found the reason, why the speaker hadn’t returned._

_She had been petrified by a cyclops. The monster lived in the labyrinth of stony paths and attacked Trevor as soon as his eye saw him. The fight was long. Trevor truly was out of practice, but in the end, he was able to defeat the monster and freed her._

_The name of the granddaughter was Sypha Belnades and she was a sorceress. Trevor wanted them to return to the surface, but Sypha insisted to continue the search as it was the only hope for humanity._

_When Trevor mentioned that her grandfather believed her to be dead, Sypha reluctantly agreed to return to the Speakers._

_Returning to the city, Sypha apologized to her grandfather for failing to find the sleeping soldier. She then argued again with Trevor about the existence of the sleeping soldier. While Sypha believed that there were monsters to protect whatever was in the catacombs, Trevor countered that they were in a part of Dracula's castle._

_Later near sunset, the Speakers learned from Trevor that they were to be executed by order of the Bishop. Despite the hunter's warnings to run and hide, Sypha and her grandfather refused because they still wanted to help the people of Gresit, and they chose to fight their own personal battles even at the cost of their lives. However, the Speakers were hidden in the catacombs by Trevor while he dealt with the angry mob in the city. Wanting to fight for herself, Sypha left the catacombs and used her magic to save Trevor when he was completely surrounded. As he rallied the townspeople to fight Dracula's army, Sypha utilized her magic to entrap the monsters within ice walls and spear them with ice shards. At the end of the battle, Sypha and Trevor fell through the unstable and crumbling ground and into the catacombs below, even deeper inside than they were before._

_Venturing deep, the two of them found a coffin where a man with long golden hair awakened in front of them. While Sypha believed him to be the sleeping saviour, Trevor labelled him a "vampire" and called him Dracula._

“Alucard,” Noah exclaimed excited.

Giving in to his nature, Trevor _engaged him in battle despite Sypha's protests. When the battle ended with the dhampir preparing to bite Trevor, Sypha threatened him with her magic._

_To her and Trevor's surprise, the dhampir stopped and introduced himself as Alucard. As he explained that he was waiting in the catacombs for a hunter and a scholar, Sypha revealed that her grandfather did everything in his power to keep Trevor from leaving the city for the sake of the prophecy. Agreeing to take down Dracula together, the three of them embarked on their journey._

“Are they going to win?” Noah asked.

“And what’s a dhampir?”

“In a way.” Rafael smiled and then turned to Jesse. “A dhampir is the name of a child with a vampire father and a human mother.”

_The journey back home was long and full of obstacles, Alucard and Trevor constantly arguing, but over the time, they bonded over their common goal and Trevor had to accept that the dhampir was different than how he thought vampires would be and Alucard understood that the Belmont’s weren’t the merciless killers his father had told him about._

_Their first stop was the old, destroyed home of the Belmont’s family, where they wanted to gather the old family treasure. They knew they needed the strongest weapons to defeat Dracula. Together, they had to solve a puzzle to open the vault and Alucard was amazed by the collection of books the Belmont’s has gathered._

_While looking through the relics, Sypha discovered that a member of the Belmont family was working on a locking spell to anchor Dracula's castle in one place and she was confident that she could complete the spell._

_Meanwhile, night creatures attacked the estate in an effort to kill them and Trevor and Alucard had to fight together in order to protect Sypha. It was a close call, but Sypha was able to complete the spell. She teleported and locked Dracula’s castle just above the ruins of the Belmont’s estate, destroying it completely._

_But Dracula had not stayed idle, either. He knew that his son would try to kill him again. During the past year, he had gathered his generals of vampires around him, who were ready to fight the intruders._

_While Sypha and Trevor fought against the other vampire’s, Alucard was left to deal with his father. The fight was merciless and brutal. They clashed through several walls and floors, until they ended up in Alucard’s childhood bedroom. Dracula froze and looked at how his son braced himself against his bed, severely wounded and out of breath and he saw Lisa’s painting of the stars on the ceiling._

_In that moment, the hatred disappeared and Dracula hugged himself._

_‘My son,’ he whispered in defeat as he lowered his head. ‘I…I’m about to kill my son.’_

_He turned away, his head and shoulder slumped as he walked up to a family portrait. Lisa and he were smiling, holding Alucard tight to their hearts._

_‘Lisa…I’m killing our son…’ His voice was broken and trembled from tears. ‘We painted this room; we crafted those toys. It’s our son, Lisa.’_

_Alucard got back on his feet and broke a wooden bedpost. He moved towards his father, rising the stake._

_‘Your greatest gift to me…,’ Dracula still mumbled in complete desolation as he covered his face in his hands. Dracula cried when he realized what he had done and how much he had distanced himself from her. This nightmare was not, what she would have wanted. How could it have come so far, that he was about to kill what was left of her? The son he loved just as much as her. ‘And I kill him.’_

_He lifted his gaze, his eyes dull and defeated shone on his face._

_‘I must already be dead.’_

_Alucard widened his eyes, the golden irises trembling in pain about his father’s words. The stake shivered in his hand, he hesitated, but he knew that his father had to die. Otherwise this curse of a nightmare would never end._

_And it was about time, that he was finally found peace. Alucard covered the few remaining steps and pierced the stake through his heart._

_Dracula grunted, blood spilling from his mouth and the wound onto the wood._

_‘Son…,’ he whispered, the words thin and fading._

_‘Father…’ Alucard’s voice trembled when he heard how the heart of his father stopped beating. Slowly, Dracula was turning into dust, his wedding ring glistening in the moonlight as Dracula collapsed._

_For Trevor and Sypha, who were just able to reach their ally, it looked like a final attempt to kill Alucard even though he only wanted to embrace his son. Trevor lunged forward and beheaded him, but it still was not enough. It needed more to erase the existence of a vampire._

_Therefore, Sypha burned the corpse. Shadows emerged from the body, throwing Trevor and Sypha against the furnitures and dispersed into the night._

_‘Alucard…,’ Trevor whispered to his new friend, who only stared onto the burned stench in the carpet. ‘Is it over? Did we make it?’_

_‘Yes…,’ Alucard confirmed, but he didn’t sound happy. ‘I…killed my father.’_

_‘You ended the war against humanity. Don’t become emotional.’ Sypha rose her hand and stopped Trevor._

_‘He is right, Alucard,’ she said softly. ‘You saved thousands of people.’_

_Alucard didn’t seem convinced, the guilt of the murder pushing his shoulders down, a strand of blond hair falling over his eyes. He appeared like a broken puppet._

_‘But it is alright to grief,’ Sypha continued compassionately as she walked towards him. Alucard sighed and tore himself away from the objects of parental love, which were displayed on the room. When he looked back to his friends, he smiled, his eyes shining warmly, moved by his friend’s compassion._

_‘He died a long time ago.’ And in a way, he had redeemed him. From his hatred and from an endless life without the love of his life. One last time, Alucard looked at the family portrait of a better time. A time like paradise and smiled about how he was pulling on one of mother’s curls._

_Hell was finally over._

“What happened then? What did Alucard, Trevor and Sypha do next? Do they stay together?”

“That is a story for another time,” Rafael announced with a smile as he threw a gaze at the clock. It was close to midnight and the silver light of the full moon shone into the living room. “There were still many adventures awaiting them and for Vlad his nightmare was over. There weren’t many stories about how the afterlife of vampire’s looked like as they were immortal and barely killed, but when he opened his eyes again, he found that his head was resting in Lisa’s lap, who ran her soft fingers through his hair and whispered: I’m so sorry that you had to suffer, love, you can rest now. You’re finally home.”

“Awwww….,” Jesse and Billie exclaimed happily, while Noah beamed. “They are united again.”

“And have an eternal life together, now,” Sonny said with a smile, while he let Rafael go.

“That was a great story, Uncle Rafa. Thank you.” The kids hugged him tight all at once and Rafael glanced down to them.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered softly. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

He held the offspring of his chosen family tight, enjoying the warmth which emitted from the bond between them and the children also felt comfortable.

The mothers watched the scene with a fond smile, happy that they all had found each other and how well it was going. Olivia and Amanda knew that they could always rely on Rafael and Sonny.

Slowly, Olivia stood up and walked over them. She leaned over the backrest of the couch and gently ruffled through Noah’s brown curls. The boy laughed happily and pulled away, trying to readjust it.

“It’s time to go home, honey. It’s getting late.”

“Do we really have to?” Jesse asked and looked at her mother.

“I’m afraid so, sweetie. It’s about time to get to bed,” Amanda answered with a soft smile.

“Hey, it’s only two weeks until you’re going to stay here an entire weekend so that your mums can go on a trip and I already have a lot ideas of awesome things we can do,” Sonny tried to console them.

“And I have many more stories to tell you.” Rafael tilted his head.

“An entire weekend,” Billie repeated full of excitement.

The loving, married couple smiled at them and nodded and with that the disappointment of the children is gone.

The ritual what followed was quick and well established. The children collected all of their candies and left a small amount on the coffee table’s bawl as a kind of payment for Rafael’s story. Then, they would get their jackets and prepare to leave.

By the time they reached the front door, Billie was almost asleep, tugged into the crook of Sonny’s neck. Carefully, making sure not to wake her up, Sonny passed her onto Amanda. Slowly, Billie was becoming a bit too heavy to be carried, but their car wasn’t far.

They wished each other good-bye, smiling at each other, before they two women left into a cold, fresh night with a clear sky.

“You changed the ending of our story,” Sonny whispered as he closed the door and kissed his cheek.

“I know…” Rafael sighed heavily and looked up with eyes hazed with sadness and love as he cupped Sonny’s cheek. “But I wanted to give them a real happy end and not the ambiguous one of our story.”

“Where is Alucard, now? I haven’t met him in this life time yet.” Regret flooded in his eyes, an expression he carried for way too many centuries. Regret that his former self had been so incautious ad therefore left her son so early.

“He’s in California. Watching over Nick and Mike. They’re the reincarnation of Trevor and Sypha after all.” The thumb, which caressed Sonny’s cheek was warm, the coldness of his self from so many years ago, long gone.

He was still immortal. That was a part of the curse for his sin, but he had no powers anymore. He was an ordinary human.

Vlad had died on that day Alucard had impaled him, but differently than in the story he had told, rest had not been granted to him.

“We weren’t exactly close the past centuries.” Another deep sigh escaped Rafael. “And I guess he doesn’t know yet that you regained the memories of your previous lives.”

“I’m so sorry that I can’t remember our time together until I acknowledge my feelings for you again…,” Sonny whispered, but for a moment Rafael saw a faint reflection of Lisa within it as the taller man touched their foreheads together. “I know I said it in every life time, but it must be so painful. To live this endless life only to find and then loose me again.”

“It might have been intended as a curse, but it isn’t,” Rafael declared with a soft smile as he took both of Sonny’s hands and gently stroked them. There was nothing of the sadness that Sonny had expected to see. Instead, love shone like stars in his emeralds. He hadn't quite lost his connection to the night. “Yes, the days without you are long, cold and hard, but just one moment more with you is all worth it.”

A tender smile tugged the corners of Rafael’s mouth up and he kissed Sonny.

“Rafael…,” Sonny whispered, his blue eyes shining like an endless ocean.

“I know you feel like you can’t compete with Lisa,” Rafael continued. “But the truth is that you don’t have to. You are Sonny and I have fallen I love with _you_. All of you had been unique, but so enthralling and compelling in their own way. I loved them all.”

Tenderly, he stroked a loose, silver strand out of his forehead.

“And now, I love you, _Sonny.”_

The shimmer of doubts still wasn’t completely gone from Sonny’s eyes. That was something Lisa and he differed in. Lisa essential quality had been her confidence, Sonny’s was his kindness and compassion. It was something that made him stronger in some regards than she had been, but more vulnerable in others.

Rafael loved him so much, now and forever. No matter how Lisa’s and Sonny’s soul would be reincarnated.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I finally finished my Barisi Halloween challenge just in time ^^' That was truly close and a lot of work. Writing in the story telling kind of narrative is more difficult than I expected.
> 
> What do you think? How do you like Rafael's story? Did you expect the twist at the end? Please, let me know in the comments.


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